He quickly made a large hole in a haystack which stood close by the house. Gianetto crouched down in it, and the child covered him up so as to leave a little breathing space, and yet in such a way as to make it impossible for anyone to suspect that the hay concealed a man. He acted, further, with the ingenious cunning of the savage. He fetched a cat and her kittens and put them on the top of the haystack to make believe that it had not been touched for a long time. Then he carefully covered over with dust the bloodstains which he had noticed on the path near the house, and, this done, he lay down again in the sun with the utmost sangfroid. Some minutes later six men with brown uniform with yellow collars, commanded by an adjutant, stood before Mateo's door. This adjutant was a distant relative of the Falcones. (It is said that further degrees of relationship are recognised in Corsica than anywhere else.) His name was Tiodoro Gamba; he was an energetic man, greatly feared by the banditti, and had already hunted out many of them. "Good day, youngster," he said, coming up to Fortunato. "How you have grown! Did you see a man pass just now?" "Oh, I am not yet so tall as you, cousin," the child replied, with a foolish look. "You soon will be. But, tell me, have you not seen a man pass by?" "Have I seen a man pass by?" "Yes, a man with a pointed black velvet cap and a waistcoat embroidered in red and yellow." "A man with a pointed cap and a waistcoat embroidered in scarlet and yellow?" "Yes; answer sharply and don't repeat my questions." "The priest passed our door this morning on his horse Piero. He asked me how papa was, and I replied----" "You are making game of me, you rascal. Tell me at once which way Gianetto went, for it is he we are after; I am certain he took this path." "How do you know that?" "How do I know that? I know you have seen him." "How can one see passers-by when one is asleep?" "You were not asleep, you little demon: the gunshots would wake you." "You think, then, cousin, that your guns make noise enough? My father's rifle makes much more noise." "May the devil take you, you young scamp. I am absolutely certain you have seen Gianetto. Perhaps you have even hidden him. Here, you fellows, go into the house, and see if our man is not there. He could only walk on one foot, and he has too much common sense, the villain, to have tried to reach the _mâquis_ limping. Besides, the traces of blood stop here." "Whatever will papa say?" Fortunato asked, with a chuckle. "What will he say when he finds out that his house has been searched during his absence?" "Do you know that I can make you change your tune, you scamp?" cried the adjutant Gamba, seizing him by the ear. "Perhaps you will speak when you have had a thrashing with the flat of a sword." Fortunato kept on laughing derisively. "My father is Mateo Falcone," he said significantly.